July 13th: South Devon Chilli Farm Original

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

Here at ChocolateMission we love doing reviews of all the products released by all of the big cheese corporations. That said we do admittedly get greater satisfaction when we get to use our site as a platform for showcasing some of the smaller chocolate making companies that manage to impress us. On this note it is with great delight today that we get to bring you our first ever review from a company called the South Devon Chilli Farm - I will let them do the honours of introducing themselves ...

"At the South Devon Chilli Farm we have been growing chillies on an increasingly large scale since 2003. The chilli farm has expanded greatly since it's humble beginnings and we now grow over 10,000 chilli plants each year and harvest tonnes of fresh chillies. We use most of our chillies in our range of chilli sauces, preserves and chilli chocolate. We now have 10 staff members with us and we have just (2011) opened our new chilli-theme farmshop and cafe"

Chilli chocolate is something that until a few years ago would have raised many a pair of eyebrows. Since the likes of Lindt and Hotel Chocolat have introduced these sort of offerings to their ranges however, it really doesn't seem like a bigger deal anymore. It is now regarded by many as proven combination for both sweet and savoury dishes - it was great to see that a specialist chilli farm was embracing this with their own core line of chilli chocolate offerings.

To start us off with their range we requested to review their 'Original' flavour chocolate. This was a 60% cocoa dark chocolate that had been laced with some of the SDCF dried Devon-grown chilli. The pack we received came in a very cool looking, rustic paper bag that contained 100.0g of said chocolate. The two slabs were perfect for breaking apart and did so with a large cracking sound - music to the ears of anyone desiring fresh chocolate!! Not wanting to waste any time we commenced the taste test and were rewarded for our eagerness. The chocolate offered very crisp, clean cocoa flavours that had a nicely rounded vanilla note to avoid being overly bitter. Somewhat surprisingly it was very late on in the development of the melt where the chilli element came into effect. The chilli generated a red pepper like earthy note to the taste and brought on a lovely warming mouth feel. The chilli element felt well placed and left a lasting impression in the mouth to ensure satisfaction.

Overall this was a very positive first experience with the South Devon Chilli Farm. Having tasted their chocolate for the first time we not only want to more of their Original chocolate, but also to give some of the other flavours from their range a try for some more reviews. We don't envisage for one minute that their chocolate will turn around many opinions if chilli chocolate isn't your thing, but for those who embrace the combination we would say their chocolate is well up with the likes of the Lindt and Hotel Chocolat offerings. With that we feel confident giving them the ChocolateMission seal of approval and would highly recommend you give their chocolate a try. If there are any other SDCF fans out their we would love to hear your opinions - @Chocomission